Is the Nord Electro 2 a keyboard or a synthesizer?

[analogika]

Hm... the original Yamaha DX series had no filters and yes, I agree this is a pointless discussion.

It also didn't play back samples.

[analogika]

Gustavo, if good piano sounds are what he's after, the Electro 2 is NOT his machine. The pianos are s***.

Clavs and organ are sensational, though.

[anotherscott]

Yes, plenty of synthesizers are not keyboards... and I'm not just talking rack versions of keyboard units. There have been guitar and wind - based synths, and classics from companies like Buchla and and EMS.

Some people broadly refer to any modern electronic keyboard that is not a "piano" or an "organ" as a synth. But many are "romplers" that play back pre-recorded samples, and don't have the characteristics of a traditional "synth." In that respect, you could have called a Mellotron a synth, but it really wasn't. As has been pointed out, a tonewheel Hammond organ is, technically, an early basic implementation of an additive synth, but again, nobody really considers it to be that... perhaps in part because that concept and terminology didn't exist when the Hammond tonewheel organ was invented.

I agree with those who say the discussion is academic, though, and that terminology generally has little bearing on what someone chooses to buy. But traditionally, a synthesizer has electronically generated (rather than sampled) sound sources, with some amount of real-time control of sound-altering parameters (i.e. pitch, modulation). They may or may not be programmable... some synths (like an ARP Pro Soloist) had only presets. Most synths are of the analog subtractive type (or emulations thereof), using filters, envelopes, and LFOs, though as has been mentioned, there are also additive synths, and FM synths like the DX7.

Regardless, by most definitions, it would be hard to characterize an Electro 2 as a synth, beyond it being a keyboard that has a bunch of sounds in it, which is an almost uselessly broad definition. It doesn't even have any sounds in it that people would consider to be "synth" sounds. At least the Electro 3 has samples of synth sounds, which can make it "sound" like what people think synths sound like, even though it still isn't, itself, a synth by almost any definition.

[Gustavo]

Gustavo, if good piano sounds are what he's after, the Electro 2 is NOT his machine. The pianos are s***.

Clavs and organ are sensational, though.

Piano samples in the NE line are basically the same as the ones that originally came with the classic Nord Stage (probably version 1 of our current samples), and let me say that they aren't bad. Definitly better than most workstations of their time and they do hold up to this day. Piano samples are always better with weighted keybeds, but if OP is in a budget and has found an Electro 2 at a great price, then it will do more than ok for pianos, clavs, eps and organs.

Saludos,
Gustavo

[analogika]

I'm pretty sure the Nord electro 2 pianos are not the same as the Nord stage.

They really are s***.

They will do for "I really need something that sounds like [piano/Rhodes/Wurli] and the Motif is in use with another patch", but that's it. The only piano I ever found usable was a Rhodes with plenty of distortion.

[Jericho-79]

Hey guys. OP here. Thanks for all your responses.

I know this may seem far-fetched.

But- Is there any way that the Nord Electro 2 could produce the sound of strings (i.e. a string quartet)?

[stiiiiiiive]

I'm pretty sure the Nord electro 2 pianos are not the same as the Nord stage.

They really are s***.

They will do for "I really need something that sounds like [piano/Rhodes/Wurli] and the Motif is in use with another patch", but that's it. The only piano I ever found usable was a Rhodes with plenty of distortion.

True. The acoustic pianos are way better since the NE3, i.e. the same as in Nord Stage series.
The Rhodes and Wurlies are not commonly said to be that bad on the NE2, though.
The acoustic pianos can also be useful if you decide on purpose to use them with heavy effects like amp sim or overdrive...

But- Is there any way that the Nord Electro 2 could produce the sound of strings (i.e. a string quartet)?

No way, unfortunately. For that you’d have to jump to the NE3.

[analogika]

The Wurli in the NE2 is completely useless. It is even more rubbery and undefined than the Rhodes samples, and I completely gave up on it after attempting multiple times to make it work in a live mix.

As you say, the pianos work well as a "joke" piano, or one you've completely munged through effects.

[anotherscott]

Hey guys. OP here. Thanks for all your responses.

I know this may seem far-fetched.

But- Is there any way that the Nord Electro 2 could produce the sound of strings (i.e. a string quartet)?

As stiiiiiiive said, no. The only sounds in the NE2 are organ, EP, clavinet, and some semblance of an acoustic piano. But if you have an i-device (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), you could connect that to the NE2 and get a string sound that way.